Allie Volpe, philly.com

Posted:
Tuesday, August 26, 2014, 2:07 PM

We’ve all been there: The physical demands of a wild holiday weekend leave you weary by the time the actual holiday rolls around. With Made in America and countless parties hitting the scene this weekend, you might need a day to unwind before heading back to the office. For a more laid-back approach to Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 1, step into any one of these museums that’ll be open for the holiday.

Monday is the final day to check out The Academy of Natural Sciences’ feathered exhibit “Birds of Paradise,” featuring exotic rain forest birds from New Guinea. The Logan Square museum is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and also has exhibits about bugs, dinosaurs and dioramas.

Camden, N.J.’s Adventure Aquarium’s doors are open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Their Hippo Haven exhibit gives visitors a chance to get some face time with the aquarium’s two hippos. Watch them chow down as biologists shed some knowledge during feeding sessions: 10:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m.

The last day to explore the science behind the circus at the Franklin Institute is Labor Day, when their latest temporary exhibit, “Circus! Science Under the Big Top” takes its final bow. Another departing exhibit from the Logan Square museum is “101 Inventions that Changed the World,” highlighting landmark innovations. The Institute will be open from 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Nearby, the National Constitution Center will be open from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. with activities in Revolutionary-era trades like printing and candle-making as well as a chance for families to try on old-school early-American garb.

Usually closed on Mondays, the Philadelphia Museum of Art will stay open on Labor Day from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. This is also your last chance to check out architect Frank Gehry’s expansion plans for the Fairmount museum.

In Fairmount Park, the Please Touch Museum has kid-friendly exhibits like “City Capers,” a child-sized look into city life and “Alice in Wonderland”-centric “Wonderland.” They’re open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

You only have a few weeks more to feast your eyes on the still lifes of Paul Cezanne at the Barnes Foundation, might as well make Labor Day that day, as the Fairmount museum is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The Garden State Discovery Museum in Cherry Hill, N.J. is open from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and has a wealth of interactive displays where kids can simulate construction or dinosaurs.

The latest and greatest at the Penn Museum on South Street details Native American stories. The museum, which is usually closed on Mondays, will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Sorry to burst any bubbles, but the following museums will be taking the day off: National Museum of American Jewish History, and Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.